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Personality Characteristics Related to Early or Late Participation in Research

Johnny Jung* and Ziggie Freudlien(Mentor), Department of Psychology

This study examined the personality characteristics of students with regards to when they participated in a research study in the Psychology Department. We were specifically interested in which personality characteristics were related to early participation or late participation in the research study. In previous research, studies have linked the personality trait conscientiousness to being early in work place settings (Back, Schmukle, & Egloff, 2006; Barrick, Mount, & Strauss, 1993; Dishon-Berkovits & Koslowsky, 2002; Foust, Elicker, & Levy, 2006). It is hoped that this research will identify potential relationships between multiple personality characteristics with regard to participation timing in a non-work setting. We hypothesized that conscientiousness and agreeableness would be negatively correlated with week of participation in the study. Using archival data, personality measures were compared in relation to the week of participation in a previous research study. Agreeableness was negatively correlated with week of participation r (117) = -.28, p < .002 and conscientiousness was negatively correlated with week of participation r (117) = -.19, p < .04 for the fall semester cohort. However, correlation coefficients were not significant for the spring semester cohort. People who scored high on agreeableness and conscientiousness were more likely to participate early in the study, and people who scored low in agreeableness and conscientiousness were more likely to participate late in the study. Our findings coincided with previous research findings regarding agreeableness and conscientiousness in the workplace (Back, Schmukle, & Egloff, 2006; Barrick, Mount, & Strauss, 1993; Dishon-Berkovits & Koslowsky, 2002; Foust, Elicker, & Levy, 2006).